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St. Louis breaks leg in defeat

PENGUINS 5, LIGHTNING 1: Tampa Bay's leading scorer likely is lost for the rest of the season.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 24, 2002

PITTSBURGH -- Things could not have gone much worse for the Lightning on Wednesday night, and the team's ugly 5-1 loss to the Penguins was the least of it.

The Lightning likely lost Martin St. Louis for the season after the scrappy right wing broke his fibula above his right ankle 1:29 into the game.

It is a devastating blow for Tampa Bay. St. Louis leads the team in points with 33, goals with 16 and power play goals with six and is tied for the lead in plus/minus at plus-5.

The Lightning, which entered Wednesday tied with the Blue Jackets for fewest goals with 96, somehow must make up the difference to remain in playoff contention.

Tampa Bay did not help itself in that endeavor at Mellon Arena. It fell behind 2-0 in the first and could not solve goaltender Johan Hedberg, who made 26 saves, until Ben Clymer scored in the third. But that only made it 4-1.

Mario Lemieux had two goals and three assists and passed Phil Esposito for seventh all-time with 1,594 points. Janne Laukkanen, Robert Lang and Aleksey Morozov also scored for Pittsburgh, which has won four in a row. Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who by 8:40 into the second had allowed three goals on 11 shots, was pulled for the second time in three games.

There even was a fight in the third between Tampa Bay's Gordie Dwyer and Josef Melichar, whose push sent St. Louis into the corner boards, where he was hurt.

It was all secondary.

St. Louis traveled with the team Wednesday night to Buffalo, where the Lightning plays Friday. It is not known if he will meet with team doctor Richard Lehman in Buffalo, Tampa or St. Louis, where Lehman is based.

Team spokesman Bill Wickett said a decision on surgery will be made after Lehman's evaluation.

"I feel really bad for him on a personal note," defenseman Grant Ledyard said. "You're waiting for a player to have a breakthrough season, and it seemed like it was his time. It's a huge hole for us to fill."

The timing could not be worse as the Lightning, which entered the game six points out of a playoff spot and is on a four-game road trip in which it hoped to make up some ground.

"I'm sure the news was not well-received in that locker room," said Ledyard, who was scratched and watched from the press box, "because he was well-liked as well."

The play on which St. Louis was hurt did not look dangerous. The 5-foot-8, 180-pounder was pushed into the boards with some force by Melichar, a 6-2, 221-pound defenseman, as both pursued the puck.

St. Louis hit the glass with his shoulder, and his leg twisted under him as he fell to the ice. After lying on the ice for about two minutes, he skated to the training room with assistance.

With St. Louis out, coach John Tortorella rotated Nikita Alexeev and Clymer on a line with center Brad Richards and wing Fredrik Modin, but nothing could get the offense going.

The Penguins, who outshot Tampa Bay 10-2 in the first period, took a 1-0 lead at 15:26 on Laukkanen's wicked wrist shot from the top of a faceoff circle to the top corner on Khabibulin's glove side. It was 2-0 at 17:47 when the Penguins got their league-worst power play cranked up and scored after a defensive lapse by Tampa Bay. It left Kovalev, Pittsburgh's top scorer, unattended in front of the net. His first shot, off a deflection of a Lemieux pass, bounced off the post. The puck came right back to him, and he had more than enough time to score his 18th goal.

Morozov's goal, his 10th and sixth in four games, chased Khabibulin in favor of Kevin Weekes. Lemieux scored twice in the third period, his second on the power play.

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